Television
As eight choirs compete in a new TV show, the spotlight goes on the age-old art of a cappella singing.
Proof positive that we’re not a nation exclusively obsessed with sport arrives with The Naked (TVNZ 1, Sunday, 8.30pm), a local version of a BBC series. There are a cappella groups and choirs (what, you thought there’d be nudity? Shame on you) the length and breadth of the country and it’s time for their day in the sun.
Apparently, we’re a nation of singers. More than 60 groups applied for the show, whittled down after auditions to the eight that appear. “I think people will be really surprised to learn that there are so many singers in the community,” says host Jeff Hunkin, “and how good people are at a cappella singing.”
Hunkin should know. He was part of the Musical Island Boys, a barbershop quartet that was formed at school in Wellington and went on to win the Barbershop Harmony Society Quartet international competition, held in Las
Vegas, in 2014. If you want to hear something truly beautiful, search YouTube for their performance of Now Is the Hour.
It’s not just church groups and community choirs, either, says Hunkin. Thousands of secondary school students are competing at regional level for a chance to attend the national Young Singers in Harmony competition (2016 gold medallists M4 from Burnside High School are also on YouTube).
“There are these kids singing songs, some of them date back to the 20s and 30s and 40s,” says Hunkin. “They’re all singing Goodbye, Coney Island Baby or Hello Mary Lou, and they’re really finding a connection and an affinity with them.”
It’s fair to say that times have been a-changing, however. It’s not all boaters and bow-ties any more, although there is a traditional barbershop quartet competing in
The Naked Choir. The rules of barbershop singing (there is a manual) cannot be applied to every song, so most groups are
a cappella. Songs in the first episode include Space Oddity and Man in the Mirror.
“You can sing anything, and that’s what I think in recent times has captured the imagination of lots of people – things like Pentatonix, who are massive on YouTube and in the a cappella scene, movies like Pitch Perfect and TV shows like Glee and The Sing-Off have really brought a cappella singing to the forefront.”
There may even be another Musical Island
Boys in the show. “There are some groups that could get attention internationally,” says Hunkin. “There are definite moments where people will say, ‘Wow’.”